The Marxist Capitalist from Barnsley. Simon Biltcliffe and the Webmart Experiment, Part One

From Orgreave to AI. Richard Stubbs on the NHS, Innovation and the Fight for Health Equity

Richard Stubbs grew up in Maltby, in a mining family shaped by the strike, Orgreave and the long shadow of deindustrialisation. His father fought the state on land that would later become the Advanced Manufacturing Park. A generation later, Richard chaired the region’s economic board on that same ground. That journey sits at the heart of Part One of this conversation. In this episode of The Digital Forge, David Richards MBE speaks to Richard Stubbs, Chief Executive of Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, about class, opportunity, the NHS, technology and the future of healthcare. Richard reflects on his mother’s journey from Jamaica to senior NHS leadership, his own path from Maltby to the BBC, and how live television gave him the urgency and resilience he later brought into the health service. Then the conversation moves to the big question: why is the NHS so good at invention, but so slow at adoption? Richard explains why healthcare innovation is not just a technology problem. It is a culture problem. A systems problem. An implementation problem. From fax machines and paper notes to pilots that never scale, he lays bare why the NHS can take years to adopt what already works. The episode then turns to AI, ambient voice technology, patient data, Palantir, clinical risk, trust and the future role of doctors. Richard argues that AI could transform productivity, triage and access, but only if the public trusts it and the system understands the risks of standing still. This is a conversation about the NHS at a breaking point, but also at a moment of extraordinary possibility. If Part One asks whether the NHS can change fast enough, Part Two asks something even bigger: whether health is now the foundation of Britain’s economic future. You can also meet speakers like Richard Stubbs live at The Digital Forge, where founders, investors, policymakers and industry leaders come together to explore the future of technology, innovation and regional growth. Find upcoming events and join the community at ForgedForGrowth.com. For more essays, analysis and commentary from David Richards MBE on AI, technology, work and society, subscribe to The Sunday Signal at thesundaysignal.ai [http://thesundaysignal.ai/]

Stalked for Four Years. It Took Prison to Stop It. Naomi Timperley Part Two.

Naomi Timperley built her career on visibility. Then it became a threat. In Part Two of The Digital Forge, David Richards MBE sits down with Naomi to explore a stalking ordeal that lasted four years, escalated across multiple platforms, and exposed just how unprepared our systems are to deal with this kind of abuse. What began with two brief encounters spiralled into thousands of posts, relentless harassment and a campaign that affected not just Naomi, but multiple victims. Police involvement. Bail breaches. Years of delays. And eventually, a prison sentence. Naomi speaks with clarity and courage about what it actually felt like. The loss of trust. The impact on her health, her work and her family. The fear of simply showing up. And the reality that even after a conviction, the risk does not disappear. This is also a story about failure at scale. Social platforms that did nothing. Systems that moved too slowly. Laws that are still catching up with the way harm is now delivered. And yet, it is also a story about resilience. Naomi shares what she has learned, how she rebuilt her sense of control, and what others can do if they find themselves in the same position. Her message is practical, grounded and hard-won. If Part One was about building influence, Part Two is about what happens when that influence is turned against you. This is not an easy listen. But it is an important one.

From Holiday Rep to Most Influential Woman in UK Tech. Naomi Timperley, Part One

Naomi Timperley did not come through the front door of the tech industry. She built her own way in. In Part One of The Digital Forge, David Richards MBE sits down with Naomi to trace a journey that begins in army towns and travel agencies and ends at the very centre of the UK’s technology ecosystem. Born in Devon, raised across military communities, Naomi describes a childhood shaped by movement, resilience and learning differently. Undiagnosed ADHD meant school never quite fit, but what she lacked in conventional academics, she made up for in instinct, communication and sheer drive. From selling holidays to working as a rep in Bulgaria, to being bullied out of a tech recruitment role, Naomi’s early career was anything but smooth. Then came the pivot. A chance discovery of an American concept led her to launch Baby Loves Disco in the UK, scaling it to nine cities, landing national press before the first event, and turning down investment on Dragons’ Den. What followed was not a business career in the traditional sense, but something far more influential. Naomi helped build the networks, communities and programmes that underpin the North’s tech ecosystem today. From Enterprise Lab to Tech North Advocates, from mentoring founders to championing women in tech, she became one of the most recognisable voices in UK innovation. This is a story about confidence built the hard way. About backing yourself before anyone else does. And about creating opportunity where none existed. Part One ends at the point where everything changes. In Part Two, Naomi speaks about a stalking ordeal that would test her resilience, challenge the systems meant to protect her, and reshape how she thinks about visibility and power.

Power, Barnsley and the Broken State. Simon Biltcliffe on Capitalism and Control, Part Two

Simon Biltcliffe did not enter politics because business failed him. He entered because business showed him what failure really looks like when systems are wrong. In Part Two of The Digital Forge, David Richards MBE moves beyond the story of Webmart and into something deeper. Power. Politics. Control. And why places like Barnsley were left behind. Simon returns to South Yorkshire not out of nostalgia, but conviction. He argues that the North does not lack talent, ambition or opportunity. It lacks power. The UK, he says, is one of the most centralised countries in the developed world, with decisions made far from the people who live with the consequences. He explains his idea of Marxist capitalism. Not ideology, but a system. Use capitalism to create value. Then distribute that value back to the people who made it. Simple. Uncomfortable. Necessary. This episode also lifts the lid on the machinery of the state. Lobbying, regulation, taxation, and why governments often make it harder to build than it needs to be. Simon argues that the UK could unlock growth overnight by removing friction, decentralising control and trusting local leadership. And then there is Yorkshire. A region of more than five million people with almost no real power. Simon makes the case for devolution, for economic self-determination, and for turning places like Barnsley from afterthoughts into engines of growth. This is not a polite conversation. It is a challenge. If Part One was about building a company with values, Part Two is about building a system that works.

The Marxist Capitalist from Barnsley. Simon Biltcliffe and the Webmart Experiment, Part One

Most founders talk about values. Simon Biltcliffe built them into systems. In Part One of this two-part episode of The Digital Forge, David Richards MBE sits down with Simon Biltcliffe, founder of Webmart, one of the most unconventional and quietly radical businesses in Britain. Simon grew up in Staincross outside Barnsley, shaped by community, the miners’ strike, and the hard lessons of deindustrialisation. He was thrown out of university twice, rode his motorbike south with no plan and no money, and stumbled into a job running a million-pound hologram machine in Corby. From there he discovered sales, built a team, and then had the kind of week that breaks people. A company collapsed, a mortgage tripled, and interest rates jumped to 15 per cent. Then came the moment that changed everything. A trip to Japan in 1993 where Simon saw what the world would later call a Kindle. He came home convinced print would be disrupted. His bosses told him to stick with the knitting. So he built it himself. This episode follows the birth of Webmart and the culture decisions that made it famous. Open salaries. Radical transparency. One version of the truth. A profit-sharing model that hands the upside to employees. Simon calls it Marxist capitalism. Not politics, but a deliberate rejection of extractive business. Part One ends as the story turns. Barnsley to Bicester and back again. The two Bs. And the question of why a man who built a successful company in the South came home to Yorkshire with a bigger mission. Part Two is coming. If you want a founder story with grit, humour, and a serious challenge to how British business is run, start here.